By IANS
Hyderabad : Legislators from opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Monday came to the Andhra Pradesh assembly on a tractor-trolley to register their protest against the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy as the winter session began on a stormy note. No business was transacted in the house.
With the opposition insisting on a debate on various issues, leading to repeated disruptions, Speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy adjourned the house till Tuesday.
It was pandemonium from the word go as the 15-day long winter session of the assembly began Monday morning.
The farmers and opposition parties are demanding Rs.1,000 per quintal as the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy to bring it on par with wheat.
Leader of the Opposition and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu accompanied by other party legislators came to the house on a tractor-trolley and were carrying agricultural produce in a symbolic protest over what they termed the state government’s failure to get MSP for paddy from the central government.
Security personnel stopped the tractor at the main entrance and refused to allow it inside the assembly precincts. Naidu raised objection to this. He had planned to come on a bullock cart but dropped the idea after objections from security personnel.
The TDP legislators staged a protest in the assembly premises and shouted slogans against the government. They even brought the agricultural produce inside the house.
Earlier, dozens of TDP leaders and activists were arrested when they tried to take out a procession of bullock carts to the assembly. Police swung into action when the protestors were trying to take out a march to the assembly from NTR Trust Bhavan, the party headquarters in Jubilee Hills.
Members of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India-Marxist marched to the assembly, accompanied by leaders and activists of their farmers’ wings, demanding hiked MSP for paddy. The police stopped the farmers’ leaders from proceeding towards the assembly and later arrested them.
As soon as the house met for the day, the TDP members were on their feet, demanding that the house suspend its listed business to debate the MSP issue. The Left parties also wanted a debate on the issue.
The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) raised the issue of alleged police excesses on innocent Muslim youths in the wake of the Aug 25 twin blasts in Hyderabad, which had killed 44 people.
The speaker rejected the adjournment motions. His appeal to the members to allow the house to take up regular business fell on deaf ears. He first adjourned the house for 15 minutes and later for half-an-hour. When the opposition remained adamant on their demands, the speaker adjourned the house for the day.
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who recently met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the MSP issue, failed to convince the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. Chandrababu Naidu had also called on the prime minister over the issue last week.